The Flog!

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 Finale had Court McGee fighting Kris McCray for the title.  Prior to the main event, we had Jamie Yager fighting Rich Attonito to TKO with the win going to Attonito. Spencer Fisher fought Dennis Siver with Siver doing unusual kicks to the face and winning by unanimous decision.  Chris Leben fought Aaron Simpson with round 1 going to Simpson accomplishing huge take downs. By round 2, Simpson was gassed and Leben much fresher. Leben won by TKO. 

Keith Jardine then fought Matt Hammill. Jardine changed stances, switched from striking to kicks, looked fantastic. Round 3 had Hammill plodding, with hands low. He attempted take downs late in the match, but had limited success as Jardine avoided the ground. Hammill won by majority decision, mostly due to an inadvertent eye poke which caused injury in round 2; this resulted in a point being taken away from Jardine.

Kris McCray came into the finale undefeated at 6-0 and Court McGee was 10-1. From the beginning of round 1, McGee dominated the match. He achieved single and double leg take downs, none huge (unlike Aaron Simpson’s take downs against Chris Leben), but all effective. After the TDs in round one, McGee applied some ground and pound.

Round 2 had McGee in full mount trying a choke. McCray flipped over with McGee on his back, but still managed to get up. McGee then did a double leg take down. While on McCray’s back, near the fence, McGee got one hook in, unable to get the other in due the proximity of the fence. He stretched McCray’s leg out with his own leg and worked on a rear naked choke until tap out.

Court McGee is the new Ultimate Fighter.

ayjay

June 23, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 Episode 9 showed Jamie Yager’s fight against Josh Bryant. Wrestler Bryant went into the fight undefeated. He stated that he likes to get inside and throw punches from there. His game plan was to hit Yager first and take him down.

Yager’s background is jiu jitsu, and at 6′2″  he had a substantial height advantage. Kyacey Uscola commented that Yager had good punches, good kicks and talent and speed.

Despite the height advantage which Yager had, both men had the same reach.

Round 1 had Yager coming in fast, but Bryant tagged him. Yager then attempted a head kick and succeeded with his other kicks. Bryant caught Yager’s leg and tried a take down and then clipped Yager again. Yager hit the ground and Bryant was in his guard.

Round 2 began with Yager’s kicks again. As with round 1, Bryant caught a leg and Yager went down with Bryant to his side. After some elbows by Bryant, Yager fence-climbed; then Bryant attempted a front guillotine. Yager’s hands were extremely low as Bryant threw strikes. They then leaned against each other, both exhausted. When, later on,  they were on the ground, Bryant in side control, Bryant applied ground and pound and then attempted ude garami.

The fight was to go to a third round, but Yager refused to answer the bell for the round despite Ortiz’s saying many times,”Don’t quit! Don’t quit!”. Yager had sustained some muscle damage to his neck.

Ortiz walked out after the match and was subsequently fired from the coaching position by Dana White. Since Ortiz couldn’t/wouldn’t fight Liddell due to his back injury, White wanted a coach who would fight. Rich Franklin was then introduced to the team as their new coach.

ayjay

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Spike Wednesdays at 10 p.m. EST.

June 8, 2010

Episode 7 of The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 covered lots of ground. Right off, we had the Wild Card fight between Kyacey Uscola and Kris McCray, both fighters having lost in their previous matches.

Since both men were from Ortiz’s team, Ortiz said he would sit on the sidelines and “let the better man win”. McCray felt he was the underdog and Uscola talked about taking his opponent’s head off.

Round 1 had the men trading kicks and strikes. One of Uscola’s kicks was to McCray’s knee and looked painful. McCray took Uscola down twice  and Uscola achieved one take down. Very little time was spent on the ground although near the end of the round McCray controlled Uscola’s back and applied some elbows.

Round 2 began with McCray taking Uscola down and while in side control he applied a Kimura (ude garami) for tap out.

Ortiz looked a bit surprised at the outcome.

The quarterfinal fight announcements were made by Dana White. In addition, Nick Ring told White that he could not continue due to his torn ACL, which required surgery. White told the men in the house that he would be picking a replacement. Hammortree immediately went to White and told him that he wanted to fight. Joe Henle, unfortunately, was too slow to say anything and missed out.

The next fight, a quarterfinal, was between Hammortree and Court McGee. Hammortree said that McGee was one of the most well-rounded and tough guys in the house. He also said that he would let his hands go a bit more than the previous fight.

Round one began with McGee catching Hammortree’s leg and, while on his back, took Hammortree down. Hammortree eventually rushed McGee, but got taken down again. While standing, they traded strikes and kicks. McGee attempted a variety of techniques, including a rear kick. He took Hammortree to the floor and was in side control at the buzzer.

Round two began and ended quickly by Hammortree’s rushing McGee and exposing his neck. McGee put him in a standing front naked choke (guillotine) for tap out.

White said that McGee looks better every time he goes out there. He certainly controlled Hammortree and deserved the win.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Spike on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. EST.

ayjay

May 20, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 had its last preliminary fight. Joe Henle fought against Seth Baczynski. Henle is relatively new to MMA, having only been professional for six months, with not much experience striking . Liddell said that he had the right attitude and that Henle wanted to show people what he could do. Henle has trained in MMA for seven years and won all his previous fights by submission.

Baczynski has been given a second chance in this season having been brought back due to McKinley’s shoulder injury. Court McGee said that Baczynski has good hands.

Although Henle was the shorter of the two, he had a four inch reach advantage over Baczynski.

Round one began with Henle rushing Baczynski to take him down, ending in Baczynski’s open guard. He accomplished a second take down after which Seth attempted a front guillotine (hadaka jime). Henle stayed in the submission attempt for a long time, fighting it, and then passed to north/south. Henle then tried the anaconda on Seth and was very close to achieving it, causing Seth to turn purple for  a while. Henle then grapevined Baczynski and rolled, losing the grapevine and ending on the bottom with Seth in his guard. Baczynski then applied ground and pound.

Round two began with Baczynski trying a flying knee, but Henle connected with his own knee. Baczynski got his own take down. After some manoeuvring, Henle grapevined Baczynski, but he was too high up on the body and Seth rolled  out of it. Later on in the round, Baczynski tried a rear naked choke (hadaka jime), but it was far too loose to be effective.

Round three was the deciding round. Henle was exhausted and completely dominated by Baczynski. He spent most of the round on the bottom and could not accomplish anything from there. When he was on top, he was competent and had more skills than Baczynski.

The decision went to Baczynski. Dana White said that he was surprised at Henle’s abilities and thought that Baczynski was a far better fighter in his previous match. Liddell stated that for Henle’s limited professional experience, he did very well.

The Wild Card Announcement followed the fight. Kyacey Uscola is to fight Kris McCray. The winner of their fight gets back in to the mix. In addition, since Rich Attonito is unable to fight with his broken hand, Court McGee can continue to the next round.

This season of The Ultimate Fighter has far more injuries than previous seasons: we have a broken jaw, resulting in the fighter’s elimination, a broken hand, a shoulder injury requiring surgery and, in this episode, a knee with ligaments requiring surgery – Nick Ring’s. During training, Ring’s knee gave out, a not uncommon occurrence for him. Ortiz manoeuvred Ring’s knee and the whole thing wiggled. The next episode promised someone else’s injury would cause another elimination. Is Ring out as well?

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m. EST on Spike.

ayjay

May 16, 2010

In the training room of The Ultimate Fighter, above a doorway, is a huge quote stating, “Never Leave It in the Hands of the Judges”. The fight this episode proved why White always says this, that is, win by submission or TKO or knock out, do not leave it to judges’ decisions.

Court McGee fought Nick Ring to decision, going two rounds. In our household, two of three of us, thought the fight should have gone to a third round, whereas the third member thought that the judges made the right decision.

McGee is a wrestler with ground skills and Ring is a stand up guy with ground skills. McGee said he loves hitting and getting hit. Liddell said that Ring was a good kicker and wanted his guy, McGee, to stay either all the way out or all the way in to avoid the kicks. One of Liddell’s coaches said that McGee could be matched with anyone. Ring was Ortiz’s first choice.

Although Ring is 3″ taller than McGee, McGee had a 4″ reach advantage.

During Ortiz’s training session, Hammortree injured his back and was taken to hospital. He had injured a disk and had swelling rather than a major back problem, which they had initially worried about.

Round one began with McGee striking, kicking and taking Ring down, ending in Ring’s half guard.  Ring scored with kicks and, in the clinch, with knees.

McGee tried a take down by shooting for a leg, but was stuffed, eventually ending on the bottom in Ring’s half guard. Some ground and pound followed, but most was ineffectual, until he used elbows.

Round two started with Ring connecting with a leg kick and then a head kick. McGee went after Ring with a flurry of strikes including uppercuts. While in the clinch, McGee used knees. McGee then had a flurry of strikes again with most uppercuts connecting as well as kicks of his own.

Ring’s jabs made contact, but his hands were very low, perhaps due to fatigue. When separated after the clinch, McGee attacked with multiple strikes again.

So, two of the three of us gave round 1 to Ring and 2 to McGee. The judges, though, gave the fight to Ring by majority decision. Liddell went a bit nuts at the loss and looked as though he were going to go after White. White thought that the fight should have gone to a third round as well.

What the judges see may not be what you see.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 11 TUF11 is on Spike on Wednesdays at 10:00 p.m.

ayjay

May 12, 2010

A Kimura is a variation of ude garami in which uke’s shoulders are not being held to the ground. In fact, uke may be sitting up or have one shoulder off the floor while laying on his side.

In order to achieve the joint lock, uke’s upper arm should be moved away from his body, making a 90 degree angle to his body, and the forearm positioned to make a 90 degree angle to the upper arm.  Using a figure-four grip on the wrist, uke’s arm is then torqued, pushing the wrist rearwards until submission is achieved.

kimura2 GSP vs Dan Hardy Kimura Submission Attempt UFC111

Photo number 2 above has Hardy having turned almost completely onto his stomach as GSP is close to having Hardy’s arm at right angles to his body. This is the closest that GSP came to having the Kimura, but it only lasted a fraction of a second as GSP yanked on the arm.  It wasn’t a stable position and Hardy worked to move his arm to a more favourable position seen in the photo below.   

kimura3 GSP vs Hardy Kimura Submission Attempt UFC111

In photo number three above, GSP has lost the 90 degree angle and separation from Hardy’s body, which is crucial to achieving this joint lock. Hardy is fighting the right angles by pushing his arm to the ground behind him, causing his arm to be too straight to apply the Kimura. GSP needed to pull the arm upwards, closer to his own body, to separate the arm a bit from, and to put the arm at right angles to, Hardy’s body. In order to do this, he needed to sit up taller. Because GSP has moved further down Hardy’s torso, his own arm is impinging on the Kimura: GSP can’t let the range of motion required to lift Hardy’s arm to get the correct angle because he himself is in the way.  

To get the correct angle, Hardy’s arm needs to be away from his body, not behind it, but rather to the side, and then retain the 90 degree angle at the elbow. There are actually two 90 degree angles: one involves having the arm at 90 degrees from the body; the other involves bending the elbow to achieve a 90 degree angle for the forearm in relation to the arm. (There is a third version of ude garami in which the arm is straight and the joint lock is placed at the elbow with the entire arm at 90 degrees from the body. See our videos for the examples.) 

Classic ude garami has uke on the ground with tori’s weight holding uke’s torso and shoulders down. Once the shoulders are controlled and the  arm is manipulated to 90 degrees from the side of the body and then again at the elbow with the hand either pointing up to the head or down to the feet, the joint lock comes on relatively easily and quite strongly. The Kimura positioning can be difficult because uke’s body is not controlled well. In addition, in this particular case, uke (Hardy)  has been able to move so much, that tori (GSP) has moved himself too far over uke causing him to stretch out the arm instead of retaining the 90 degree angle.  

ayjay  

April 6, 2010

The juji gatame, ude hishigi juji gatame formally, is an armbar in which you as tori use your legs to control uke while you hyper-extend his elbow into an armbar. The juji can be accomplished from a variety of positions, from the ground, from standing, etc. In the case of this fight, the positions were classic with Hardy on his back on the floor and GSP at about 90 degrees from Hardy and on his back as well. The object is to apply pressure to the elbow, extending it to the point that you achieve a tap out. In order to get the arm bar, the pressure must be applied to the elbow and the arm must be straightened out completely. When we teach this technique, we talk about pointing the thumb to the sky. That position works for the most part, but there are some versions of juji in which that statement doesn’t apply. Tori must be aware of where uke’s elbow is and turn the arm such that the elbow is the joint that is having the torque placed to it. The elbow has to be against your body, the thumb away from your body. In GSP’s attempt at the juji gatame, Hardy managed to move his arm so that he could bend it.  GSP did not control Hardy’s upper body or his arm, so that eventually Hardy turned over and got free. 

Initially GSP had his left leg over Hardy’s face and the right leg over Hardy’s upper torso. GSP had Hardy’s right arm extended to the right maintaining grips on Hardy’s wrist and hand. This is the first screen shot of the position: 

juji1 - GSP attempts Juji Gatame on Dan Hardy - UFC 111

In the photo above, GSP has Hardy’s arm in the correct position, but the leg on Hardy’s face should be extended and be pushing down, squashing his face. But even more importantly, GSP should be squeezing his legs together around Hardy’s arm while pushing down with both legs.  Closing the gap between the knees immobilizes the arm so that uke cannot move his arm from the juji position. Pushing down on the face and torso enables tori’s control over uke’s shoulder and upper body. Squeezing the legs together is the most crucial element, though.

If you look closely at the video (you can see it better than with just the few photos we’ve included), you can see Hardy’s arm twist and turn between GSP’s legs, allowing him the range of motion to resist the arm bar attempt and ultimately escape.

juji2 - GSP attempts Juji Gatame on Dan Hardy - UFC 111

By the 18 second mark above, Hardy has begun to turn onto his side and his arm has moved, his elbow slightly bent such that GSP cannot apply the arm bar – the elbow is pointing sideways here, so Hardy can actually bend his arm to relieve the pressure.
At the 17 second mark below, Hardy is fully on his side and GSP is straining to achieve the submission, to no avail. 

juji3 GSP attempting a Juji Gatame on Dan Hardy - UFC111

At the 16 second mark below, the grimace on GSP’s face shows his effort, applying all his strength. It was in vain, though, because Hardy managed to move onto his side, having lifted GSP’s hips right off the floor. If GSP were in control of the arm bar, Hardy would still be on his back, and GSP would lift his OWN hips to further hyper-extend the elbow. Hardy’s elbow is away from GSP and his thumb is now pointed toward the floor instead of the ceiling, enabling him to use the larger bicep to bend his arm. 

juji4 GSP attempting a Juji Gatame on Dan Hardy - UFC111

juji5 GSP attempting a Juji Gatame on Dan Hardy - UFC111

One second later, at the 15 second mark above, GSP’s left foot is completely under Hardy; Hardy is turned onto his side and is moving his arm away from GSP. Georges spent all his effort on Hardy’s arm, but had not managed to stabilize the arm. 

juji6 GSP attempting a Juji Gatame on Dan Hardy - UFC111

By the 14 second mark above, Hardy was on his knees and about to escape from GSP’s grasp completely.  Had he squeezed his knees together at the beginning of the arm bar attempt, we believe Hardy’s arm would have been immobilized and the submission would have been successful.

Click here to link to our videos on juji gatame - traditional version, and our modified judo4MMA version of juji gatame.

ayjay,

April 4, 2010

This UFC was the first of many, I’m sure, in Australia. The Aussies seemed to love MMA and the athletes.

The fight between Wanderlei Silva and Michael Bisping in UFC 110 had Silva successfully completing both a right-sided ko uchi gari and a left-sided version of the same throw in the following round.

Ko uchi gari is the minor inner reaping throw which involves taking your leg and reaping out the same leg of your opponent, so if you’re using your right leg, you’d reap out uke’s right leg. This throw uses the smaller muscles and is a smaller throw than o uchi gari (major inner reaping). Silva’s versions, though, looked strong: he caught Bisping’s left leg in the first throw, and reaped out Bisping’s right leg. By catching the leg, as opposed to grasping an arm or gripping around the neck, and then stretching his own leg for a small reap, he was able to stay out of danger himself and, yet, throw Bisping to the ground. In the second throw he caught the right leg and reaped out the left leg. Our video doesn’t show the leg grab, but the principle is the same: the leg is isolated and then is taken out.  The traditional version, showing gripping of the arm and lapel or collar, of ko uchi gari can be viewed here. 

During the bout between Stephan Bonnar and Krzysztof Soszynski, Bonnar attempted an harai goshi when the men were in the clinch. Harai Goshi (Sweeping Hip or Loin) involves turning your back to your opponent and sweeping out his leg, although variations of position could allow throws to the side instead of to the back. Here is the traditional version of harai goshi. I think Bonnar was positioned a bit too far past Soszynski’s body. When Bonnar swept his leg, he made no contact with Soszynski at all. This is a version of harai goshi for MMAin which Dave throws to the side.

There were few submission attempts in this UFC and the only submission I saw which resulted in a win was a knee bar (Chris Lytle in his win against Brian Foster). I had hoped to write about some beautiful submissions, especially from Soszynski and other groundwork specialists, but such is not the case this time around.

ayjay

February 23, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10 Episode 7 aired yesterday without a fight with Kimbo Slice, despite hints virtually every episode. There was a major kerfuffle between Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson, such that all their coaches and team members looked very serious and people kept trying to step between them. The argument was a continuance of all the others: Jackson’s beaking off about Evans’s being cocky and Evans’ talking about Jackson’s not being a coach to his team, etc.

The fight of this episode was between Matt Mitrione of Evans’s team and Scott Junk of Jackson’s. Mitrione comes across as a goof and fool, is called “Meathead” by Evans and others, as well as “Rat”, as in ”He’s a rat”. He seems to always be involved in confrontations with other housemates. He played professional football in the NFL before turning to mixed martial arts and training with Chris Lytle and Jake O’Brien. Dana White said that he knew basically nothing about the guy.

Junk, on the other hand, has an MMA record of 6 and 2 and had his team members going on at great length about his abilities and background. He has had one match in the UFC which he took on two weeks’ notice, losing by submission in the first round. Even Dana White said that Junk would win, since he was very tough, will stand up and bang, and can go to the ground.

Round 1 of the match had Mitrione, the inexperienced fighter, catching Junk’s leg three different times to knock Junk down. He followed the knock downs with multiples strikes. Each time, though, he let Junk get up. For the first three minutes or so of the round, Mitrione controlled Junk completely. Junk looked worn out. Eventually Mitrione was tired himself, mouth-breathing, hands very low, and Junk managed a clinch at the fence. Junk just leaned into Mitrione until they broke the clinch. Junk finally got in close to Mitrione and struck many times. As the buzzer sounded, both men just leaned against each other in exhaustion.

Round 2 had Mitrione still drained, breathing through his mouth, hands down by his sides. He accomplished a few low leg kicks, but had feeble jabs. Junk tried to get in closer and managed a take down. While in full guard, Junk applied some strikes, but Mitrione had more punches from the bottom.

They were stood up by the referee. Mitrione threw a body kick, but had his hands very low and got clocked by Junk. Mitrione then was successful with most of his strikes and Junk was barely trying.

Unanimous decision in favour of Matt Mitrione.

This is the seventh match in a row which Jackson’s team has lost. Jackson left the area and smashed apart a door (one of those hollow doors with honeycomb insulation) to the change rooms. White called this fight “awesome” but our reaction here was that it was weird: Junk couldn’t accomplish anything for the first few minutes and got knocked down consistently. Only when Mitrione was tired himself did Junk get in close enough to connect (although there was a significant reach advantage by Mitrione – 7 or 8 inches). Both men had extremely poor cardio and were probably grateful that the match didn’t go to the third round.

The last preliminary fight will be between Michael Wessel and Marcus Jones.

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 1

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 2

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 3

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 4

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 5

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 6

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 8

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 9

ayjay

Ocotber 29, 2009

The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10 is close to completion of its preliminary bouts. Yesterday’s fight, the sixth, was between Darrill Schoonover from Rashad Evans’s team and Zak Jensen from Rampage Jackson’s. Both these men have had problems in the house: Jensen has alienated or has been alienated by his teammates. He has had problems during training with complaints about his shoulder and has even been knocked out during training.

Schoonover has had a severe drinking problem which we just learned about. Evans felt that Schoonover’s drinking was affecting his training, giving him poor cardio. Schoonover said he would not drink, or drink just a little, or wait until after his first fight. He realized that in order to be able to fight he would have to curtail the alcohol.

In addition to the drinking issue, Schoonover had to contend with Jackson’s mocking his physique by constantly talking about his “titties”. This is not the first time that Jackson mocked a member of Evans’s team: he ridiculed McSweeney’s English accent several weeks ago. In both cases, the mockery caused confrontations during which Evans placed himself between the two men in order to avert a physical battle. Any attempt by an Ultimate Fighter to hit Jackson would cause the contender to be thrown out of the competition.

One of Jackson’s coaches took the “titties” comments and the mockery to the extreme by having a professional artist paint caricatures of Evans’s team on a poster. While very clever (Schoonover with a push-up bra, Madsen in makeup, Evans as a dancing frog [I think]), the poster was offensive, indicative of Jackson’s disdain for Evans and his team. Evans removed the poster before his team could see it and be distracted by it, but told the men about it, and advised them to retain their focus on the competition.

Jensen’s teammates actually had a pool as to when he was going to go crazy and several of them were trying to break him. Tormenting the man will not help him improve his social skills or mental health.

During Jensen’s training for the elimination match, he was cut severely above the right eye, causing Kimbo Slice to jump with joy in anticipation of replacing Jensen. Jensen, however, said that he would still fight. The training went so well that his coaches felt he would win the bout.

Further to Jackson’s ridicule of Schoonover, he and a coach wrote the word “titties” below Schoonover’s name on the brass plaque of the changing room. This juvenile behaviour was to psych him out, I suppose.

Schoonover, with a background in jiu jitsu, judo and submission grappling, has had ten professional fights and won all ten. Jensen was a collegiate wrestler and football player and has competed in “Tough Man” and Golden Gloves competitions. His record is 7-2 and he has a four inch reach advantage.

The fight began strongly with both men striking, locking up and moving to the fence. Jensen attempted a front guillotine (hadaka jime), but was unsuccessful. Schoonover applied some knees and many strikes.

Jensen took Schoonover down landing in guard and did some ground and pound. Schoonover applied a triangle choke(Sankaku Jime) on Jensen as Jensen was throwing strikes to his head. Schoonover kept the legs tightly around Jensen’s head and even though he seemed not to be interested in controlling Jensen’s arm (or protecting his own face as Jensen threw punches), the choke was effective and Jensen was choked out.

The main difference this week to previous weeks is that Jackson was not depressed. His team has lost every match, six in a row now. Even though they have lost, he is planning further pranks.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 10 TUF10 is on Spike at 10:00 p.m. Wednesdays E.S.T.

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 1

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 2

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 3

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 4

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 5

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 7

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 8

Click here to go to TUF10 Episode 9

ayjay

October 22, 2009